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Six, actually. In their combined mode.

This is the part that has me convinced it will go their way.

Unfortunately, no third parties that I'm aware of are really doing main line styled G1 figures. Romulus was a one-off by Newage, and while I think it's a really good figure and I laud them for making it, b/c Has/Tak decided to increase the scale of SS86 OP, Romulus earned more than its fair share of criticism, which I felt was unfair, and likely put Newage, and likely Magic Square in turn, off to continuing making figs to fit Legacy. I'd love to see any number of legends scaled figs upscaled, but after Romulus, I suspect all bets are off and neither company is going to feel that the effort is worth the potential blowback. This fandom eats its own and f##ks itself out of potential opportunities. There are expectations and then there are dreams; I think this qualifies as the latter. 😄 They'd have to make a new size class for that- like grand piano crate scale!

TBF, triple changers are more difficult to design. There has to be some built-in forgiveness for a degree of concessions. However, when we have toys like Fans Toys Thomas, which is IMHO the peak G1 Astrotrain toy to date, or something much simpler but as equally well-accomplished as Mech Fans Toys' Iron Sky, two very different toys at opposing scales that both do exceptional credit to the character, one wonders that Takara, the guys that invented the original Astrotrain, not to mention brilliantly realizing the idea of taking realistic vehicles and turning them into robots, couldn't 40+ years later do much, much better than this when a third party legends TF maker already created an ideal toy years ago. Takara wouldn't have had to copy MFT's toy exactly, although MFT wouldn't have much legal recourse if they did, but if they chose to make something very similar while adding their own slight touches, we'd all be the better for it as fans and collectors.

Takara, left to their own devices, has done or is doing some wild stuff, like a sorta Prime that turns into the Fire Valkyrie from Macross 7, but also a (kind of) a truck. So it was kind of disappointing that, to celebrate Godzilla's 70th birthday, Takara took Studio Series Grimlock, swapped his robot head with Sludge's, painted him black, labeled him Megatron Type Godzilla, and then called it a day. While Takara's unwillingness to actually remold any parts made the figure difficult to recommend to any but the most hardcore Godzilla fans, it left a huge opportunity for frequent upgrade kit maker DNA to step up and "fix" the figure. And what they ultimately delivered was DK-67 Monster King. This kit includes a new robot head, new beast mode toes, new beast mode arms, a new beast mode head, robot feet fillers, robot forearm fillers, a beast back part, a beast tail part, a beast tail extender, and a connector part. It should also come with a pair of screws, but mine didn't. 😒 So we'll start in beast mode. Remove these three screws on the stock head. It'll pull part into all these pieces... which you can put back together and toss in a bag or drawer or something. The DNA head also needs to come apart, but there's no screws involved. Line the cutout in the bottom of the neck with the mushroom peg, and fit the rest of the head back together. Be careful to make sure that this post sticks into his mouth. To swap the arms, push the stock arms back until the ball joints pop out of their sockets. Take the new arms and just push them into the sockets. For the new toes, remove these three screws from the inside of the beast leg. Pull the inner half off, and you can wiggle the dino toes off the screw post. Pop the new toes on, then replace the inside of the leg and start screwing him back together, except for the screw through the dewclaw. If you're going to use the robot arm filler, line up the screw hole on the hinge with the screw hole on the dewclaw. Instead of using the stock screw, use the longer screws DNA provided. In theory, the hinge allows this part to open like a flap so you can fold the wrist out, then fold it back over to cover the gap. In practice, it doesn't lock in place or even sit flush, and it protrudes a bit from the rest of the limb. If you're mostly going to keep him in beast mode, where the back of his robot fist fills that gap, I think this part kind of makes it look worse. I wouldn't bother even if I wasn't missing the screws. Anyway, now we've just got to do the back and tail parts. Get used to these steps, because removing and replacing them is going to become a necessary partsforming step. For the small back part, you'll note that there are hinges between the rows of spines. You need to fold the outer rows so that they're sticking out at about a 45 degree angle, then line the part up (so the small peg is pointing down into his tail). Once it's lined up, straighten the spines, and tabs on the sides will kind of slide and grab into hollow spots on the hinges on his back. Grab this little connector part, and it can store on the underside of this piece as indicated. Then this piece will sit over the stock tail, with these hinged bits using pegs to grab into peg holes that will lock it into place. Finally, the tail extender has a 5mm port on it. It just plugs into the 5mm peg on the end of the part you just attached to the stock tail. Godzilla mode complete! And, like @Dangard Ace said, this is what Takara should have done in the first place. Just a few remolded pieces was all it took to take Grimlock in Godzilla colors and actually make a robot that looks like Godzilla. As a bonus, the new parts add some articulation. The new toes aren't just hinged like the stock ones, they're on ball joints so they can swivel into faux ankle pivots. The new arms have actual working elbows, bicep swivels, and wrist swivels. The tail extension has a few ball joints that allow it to bend and curl. As happy as I am with the greatly improved Godzilla mode, this is still a transformer, so lets go to bot mode. Transformation works mostly the same, except for two things. First, as I already mentioned, you have to remove all the new back and tail parts. Second, rather than simply flipping the beast head back, you need to rotate it 180 degrees, then slide it back before you flip it over so that it has the room to sit on the robot's back. The we have the robot mode parts. Remove this screw on the back of the stock head, then gently pull it apart and pop the back off of the ball joint. Open the DNA head the same way, push the back of the head onto the ball joint, fit the front on, and screw it together. I'll be honest, I didn't mind the Sludge head... it actually did have a sort of IDW-ish Milne-esque Megatron look to it. But the new head has a more traditionally G1 Megatron face, and a helmet that looks more like Godzilla opened his mouth and Megatron's face was just in there, like how Voltron's face pops out of the Black Lion. The feet fillers are pretty self explanatory. Line them up with the cutouts for the hinges and the 5mm ports, then just push them in. The question now is what to do with all the leftover back bits. One of the simplest things you can do is take the part where we stashed the little connector part and to move it into the 5mm port, so that a 5mm peg is kind of sticking out. Then you can take the entire tail and plug it onto an arm, fusion cannon style. This is Megatron, after all. Doing that doesn't really leave any place for the smaller back part, though. So, take the extender off the tail. Fold the long handle out of the back part, and again angle the outer spines out at about 45 degrees. The tail can then plug onto the back part to create a handheld weapon. And, again, we fold the clips under the other tail part and arrange the connector part into the 5mm port with a 5mm peg sticking out. I'm not sure what you'd call the weapon... a sword? A lance? Regardless, he can hold it in one hand, while the rest of the tail can use the connector to plug into a forearm and become a shield. This is my preferred robot configuration. But you still have options. Arrange the connector so that it sticks out a bit further, with the 5mm peg pointing down instead out straight back, and you've got a handle on the shield that he can hold in his free hand. Or, turn the connector upside down and you'll have enough clearance to plug it into the 5mm port on his back, on the beast mode neck. DNA can be a very hit-or-miss sort of company. Their worst upgrade kits can fail to address issues I have with figures while introducing a host of new problems, like the ones they did for Siege Magnus and Galaxy Upgrade Optimus. Their best kits can fix the biggest complaints I have with a figure, like the simple kit they did for SS '07 Megatron that replaced the ROTF chest with one that was '07 movie accurate. Most of their kits fall somewhere in the middle. But this kit? My friends, this is one of their rare kits that not only fixes my complaints with a figure, it does so in such a thorough and complete fashion that it elevates a figure I wouldn't actually recommend in the first place into a figure I'd happily recommend. The only downside is the price. This kit costs nearly as much as the figure, which was already a premium over the standard Leader-class price. But if you already bought this figure, then this kit is a must-buy delivering night-and-day results. And if you're into Godzilla and Transformers but wasn't happy with Takara's feeble stock attempt at a crossover, the upgraded results are honestly good enough to made you reconsider buying this toy.

So, the newest episode of Starfeet Academy is "The Life of the Stars". Once again, we witness that this incarnation of Starfleet Academy seems to be run in the most incompetent manner possible. What is the point of a bridge simulation where the person serving as captain is not only not leading, but seemingly actively hindering and belittling the students? It can, at least, be said with confidence that the writers room firmly understands the character from Discovery. That is to say, she only opens her mouth to say the stupidest thing possible at any given moment. There's a very good reason that the one and only competent officer to serve on the Discovery in the 32nd century took an instant dislike to her, told her on no uncertain terms to STFU, and ultimately drove her off the ship entirely. Even Reno seems to find her quietly disgusting, comparing her presence to a toothache and describing her manner as "nightmarish". Is it just me, or is this show allergic to depicting competence in even the smallest degree? I actually admire that Darem has the brass ones to point out that not only do none of the cadets really give a damn about Tilly's class. I can sympathize. I feel myself tuning the episode out every time Mary Wiseman opens her mouth. Line of the episode: It's such a weird thing to say, given that she is literally a mind reader. Her entire species are mind readers. It's their entire goddamn hat. Not only that, she's such a powerful mind reader she can accidentally give people brain damage. This scene is so badly written it's giving the audience brain damage. Honestly, I'm with the Kasqians on this one... Oh. My. God. NICE JOB BREAKING IT, B'ELANNA! So one cheap fix handled montage-style we've killed and unkilled a main cast member for shiggles because it's literally faster than giving them actual character development. Honestly tho... this is the second episode where we've had an implicit character assassination for a 90's-era Trek character. First it was turning Ben Sisko into an absent father, now B'Elanna's sadism is giving people centuries of PTSD.

Toon-accurate Astrotrain should also be able to accommodate at least 5 Decepticons inside Shuttle or Train mode... PO canceled!

I cancelled Astro too. I'll just have to look for a 3rd party option that fits in.

Exclusive: Warner Bros signs $110 billion deal with Paramount, its executive discloses in townhall (Reuters) Saw a snark comment on Reddit; maybe in a few years, Netflix can buy Paramount-Sykdance/WB-Discovery. So Netflix just pocketed $2.8 billion and if Paramount decides to backout or not gain regulatory approval, Paramount now stands to lose $7 billion. S&P Global placed Paramount on watch Negative from the potential merger. That's not bad per se but it lines up with my question about this merger. Paramount is also looking at $87 billion in debt. From all these recent mergers, you're looking at something that is getting bigger and can fall just as explosive as it built (I'm aware much of the world is essentially, financed by debt. But debt is debt. And merger after merger really piles on the debt all at once).

Try this page; I've seen a lot of Macross 3D files there, you might find something interesting. https://cults3d.com/es/búsqueda?page=1&q=Macross

I doubt it... because I really do not believe that Paramount sincerely wants to acquire Warner Bros. It's more than they can reasonably afford to spend and they have to know that it's only going to invite unwanted scrutiny from regulators and antitrust enforcement. It seems unlikely that they would be able to find a party willing to finance the deal and the debt it would require taking on would almost certainly ruin them. If it does make it in front of the courts, it'll likely be Warner Bros shareholders suing Paramount to compel them to close the deal like what happened to the muskrat's unserious offer to buy Twitter.

Unreal! My DX Fire Valkyrie arrived at my house today. I wasn't expecting it for at least another month since I went with the super cheap and slow shipping. I truly appreciate the heads up on this unbeatable price. For once, the gamble paid off nicely.

Yeah, crazy that isn't the second pic.

I feel that. There are so many places with memories of what used to be. The world I grew up with is gone. It was a long time ago but I specifically remember different colored parts, like red and yellow, within a single figure. These are the best candidates I can find:

Are designers considering the licensing limitation of the Macross brand world wide? I mean, it is labeled "Macross" and "Hikaru Hichiyo" Even if it passes I don't see how this could sell under the Macross brand outside Japan.

@Cheese3 nice! Test build on the Spartan was fast a fun. Also enjoying a sunny winter day in Portland. No rain! Where am I? lol whenever I can I love to do bench work upstairs in the sunlight if it’s not going to be too stinky or messy. Also this IMAI 1/72 is around 18cm tall. Not too shabby

I am just loving Frieren this season.

IMHO, the SS Astrotrain design is straight garbage. The money they wasted on the smoke effect could have been used to polish the design of the actual figure. Feels like a money grab: "Okay, you know it's a POS, I know it's a POS, we all know it's a POS, but that's okay. It'll sell. Our audience can't help but buy the new shiny. These aren't fans. They're addicts. And I'm building a $5M expansion on the house to celebrate!"

That li'l guy looks pretty cool.

are they like this one? 機甲創世記モスピーダ 消しゴムフィギュア - メルカリ

Where are you going? When are you coming home? orguss primed!

Yeah I’m really enjoying the super simple build. Having fun and it looks like it might stand taller than I had expected. The rest fit is almost complete

I still drive by an old spot that used to be my favorite hobby shop because they would get old school kits from Macross and Dougram and Mospeada and a bunch of other cool stuff I had never seen before. I think it’s unfortunately just a nail salon now, but I still look over to that spot and have my memories of how cool the place used to be back in the day.

When you wish wave did a Spartan in 1/72, but double checked and it’s not even in the pipeline. Honestly I’ve always thought that for such an old kit that it looks pretty good. When I was younger I could only find the smaller 1/100 Arii and while being a little scrawny, it was actually more fun than I expected.